Sunday a day of rest for Sharks after 3-0 victory over Dallas moves them to No. 8 spot in West

The long-term schedule had the Sharks off on April Fool’s Day and that didn’t change with their 3-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

That means no news on Douglas Murray’s injury or anything else until 10 a.m. Monday when everybody gathers for an earlier than usual practice before boarding the charter jet to Dallas.

So we’ll take the opportunity to look back at that win. Face it, considering Dallas didn’t land at SJC until sometime after 2 a.m. — and, yes, that carries a $2,500 fine for curfew violation — or reach the hotel till closer to 3 a.m., that was the one game out of the final four that presented an opportunity to exploit a scheduling advantage and the Sharks did just that.

Advertisement

The print edition story tries to cover the basics and it’s link-able in the right-hand column. Here are a few extras that didn’t make the final cut:

******Jason Demers had gone 26 games without a goal — and been a healthy scratch or injured in 14 others along the way — and that was a factor in that exuberant celebration when he scored late in the first period to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.

“It’s been awhile that I’ve gotten to do a celebration so I was a little bit lost,” Demers explained.

Here’s his description of the play that featured an incredible pass from Marty Havlat that Demers converted on.

“He makes plays like that that not many people can make. I just wanted to reward him for making a pass like that and I found a little spot and it snuck in,” Demers said.

Demers said he and Havlat locked eyes just before the pass and that was the signal that sent him pinching in and triggered the pass from Havlat.

******Todd McLellan was asked if that game provided a textbook example of how the Sharks need to play to win:

“Yeah,” he said, buying into the premise. “We scored one on the power play, the penalty kill was good, we got the lead, we were able to check, we didn’t give up many chances.

“Able to use four lines, didn’t have to overplay guys, good in the faceoff circle, showed some discipline as far as systematic play as well as some emotional control against an emotional team.”

Advertisement

******Antti Niemi made 22 saves to earn his sixth shutout of the season and was quick to credit the team in front of him.

“We played one of our better games today and obviously it was easier for me,” Niemi said. “But I’ve felt good for awhile and I felt good today.”

As for the defense in front of him, “we took their sticks away in front and we even didn’t give them too much time to shoot,” Niemi said, citing a block by Justin Braun that thwarted Michael Ryder and Brent Burns sliding on the ice to break up a 2-on-1 rush.

The game was Niemi’s 18th consecutive start. And he says he’s ready for his 19th, in case you were wondering.

“I feel great,” he said. “I think it’s all about balancing the practice time and playing time and now we play on Tuesday next, so that’s good too.”

******Merc columnist Mark Purdy covered the game as well last night and he was focusing on Joe Pavelski’s night, so I shied away from that material.

But didn’t want to let go unnoticed the fact that Pavelski took over the lead in goal-scoring last night with his 30th and 31st of the season.

Those are career-high numbers and only cement Pavelski’s role as Joe Thornton’s go-to guy. They also give Pavelski five goals in the last six games as San Jose’s other two top goal-scorers, Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau, are going through a dry spell.

*****Back Monday.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

8th might as well not make the playoffs as the sharks couldn’t do anything against the blues. Considering that the Sharks couldn’t find ways to beat certain teams at all getting pretty much 0-fered by the ducks and blues; I can’t imagine the Sharks winning their 1st round match up. This team has done little to inspire my confidence in them.

Doug H

Wupuck,

You do know Vancouver is the 1 seed now right?

If everything goes how it looks on paper tuesday

La-93
7. Phx-93
8. Sj-92

Then phx plays the blues, fighting for the 1 seed,
And we play LA. If we win and phx loses,

3. Sj-94
7. LA-93
8. Phx-93

No one will fall out except Dallas if the schedule plays out on paper.

bigjohn

Burns and Demers , pavs where great

JohnRock

While watching the Vancouver vs Dallas game Friday night they reported that Dallas had received some kind of exemption to fly directly to SJC instead of Oakland.

hmslion

This’s team’s inconsistency is maddening…where was this performance in Anaheim? Or against the Yotes. A couple of wins against those teams and we are talking about who we are going to be playing in April, not if…

On another subject, the NYTimes had a brief piece on Ken Hitchcock’s success in the Gateway City. One quote struck out that came from is scouting work – “the NHL is junior hockey played by professionals…” He was talking mostly about how young most players are – kids really.

Makes we wonder if DW missed this evolution. There are nights we just look old and slow.

Though it will be interesting to see how the Blues do in the playoffs, where wisdom and cunning can sometimes offset youthful energy….

Tifososquali

just imagine if Pavs could skate, he is not as bad as Cheech, but he’d be so much better if his skating was somewhere between his current state and PMs skating ability.

Sometimes Pavs skating looks like he is carrying the weight of the team in each skate.

Anyway…

David

Although it never seems to matter with this team and never really has as far as home/away, who they play or what their seed is in the playoffs, I’m kinda hoping if they do make it, they go as a 7th or 8th seed and play Van or Stl.

One thing that does seem to be true is that in the 1st round especially, teams that have cruised all yr sometimes have trouble finding their playoff game. Last yr Van went to game 7 with Chi, Sharks lose to Ana 3 yrs ago, Wash 2 yrs ago and Phi last yr never found their game.

My point is, the sharks could get some breaks and knock one of those teams off and get on some flukey role. Why not, its happened to many other teams before, maybe that’s what they need, to be an underdog.

Sure sounds like a great scenario but unfortunately I know this team too well, and while I still believe they are very capable of beating ANY team in the playoffs, scenarios and getting on a role in the playoffs for more than one or two series’ hasn’t ever happened. They always have hit the wall hard at some point and gone out fairly easy in the end starting with Calgary in 04′ Then Edm, Det, Dal, Ana, Chi and Van, all in 6 games or less.

Nice to see Drew and Randy praise Wingels….wait that means DW will trade him this off season for a couple of guys we don’t need.

ogie oglethorpe

I have voiced my doubts about Niemi for his poor focus and lack of fundamentals this season, but in the last 4-5 games he has picked up his level of intensity. He has been able to do that at various times this season ( Red Wings, Canucks, Blackhawks ) but not consistently. When he plays with this fire, he’s better with playing his angles, he’s quicker and it makes his weaknesses fade into the background.

The reality is that as fans, we don’t care how you keep the puck out of the net, JUST KEEP IT OUT! For so many games this year, there was a sense of fear everytime a shot was taken. He seems to need that extra motivation to bring his “A” game, such as the predicament we have now. Stay focussed Nemo!

slappy

Monday the only WC game of interest to the Sharks =LA plays Oilers.

Tuesday in addition to the Sharks @ Dallas, Yotes play CBJ. The Jackets are to the Yotes like Ducks are to the Sharks. So far the Yotes have played CBJ 3 times and lost all 3 games!!!!!Perfect nemesis to our PO seed rival.

slappy

ogie@11
One thing I noticed is that last night Nemo didn’t give up as many juicy big rebounds as he did with the Ducks and the Yotes. If he can swallow up those pucks more often it would help our team a bunch. Sharks are tops for F/O wins anyways, I don’t know what Nemos deal was about not swallowing the pucks previously. If its style, then he needs to change it. Not only was he bad on rebounds but he wouldnt direct them to our Dman on a consistent basis. Thats just unfocused play.

SjSharksfan95118

I was at the game last night and Winnik had a hell of a game. He was all over the place and even though he wasn’t on the score board, he deserved a star or the game.

The Sharks had a good game but they need three more of the same to be able to continue to play in April and beyond.

1 game, 1 period, 1 shirt at a time….. Can’t wait until Tuesday

GO SHARKS!!!!

Shrk2th

Slappy: I was not aware about the Bluejackets having the Coyotes’ number this season. Wow, I was thinking that it was an aoutomatic 2 points for Phoenix.

Shrk2th

SjSharksfan95118: I agree on your observations on Winnie…

He was awesome, and one could sense how demoralizing his PK effort was on the forecheck, where he singlehandedly helped to kill off almost 30 seconds+ on his own. The Tank was deafening on that PK. I’m hopeful that will reinforce a good PK effort for the Sharks mooving forward.

sharksfan

The tank was also booing, as they should on that atrocious 5 on 3. Soft plays by Thornton and that whole unit, when they should have gone for the kill. Unacceptable when fighting for their playoff lives.

Shrk2th

Yeah, that 5 on 3… I just can’t figure that one out. SJ has always been pretty bad with having a two man “advantage”. Why IS that anyway? It seems to me that would be a perfect time to have a Shark parked in front of the net, but NOBODY went there at all.

Once again, my poor dog went upstairs to leave the yelling and all the commotion!

RWC Sharks Fan

I was at the game last night and indeed the tank was booing during the 5 on 3 – it just plain looked bad. However, there was a really nice moment during the Stars PP where the tank was cheering loudly because they made the Stars look really bad on their own PP and they kept the puck away from them pretty much the whole time. That was nice to see and the energy from the crowd was great.

The Sharks 2nd period looked great – they were standing them up at the blue line and not letting them get deep at all. They were attacking and playing with intensity. The third, not so much. It felt more like they were just trying to keep the Stars from scoring and perhaps get Pavs a hat trick.

Happy for the win, but concerned for the next few days of other WC games. It’ll be interesting to watch.

(PS: Didn’t see a single Fire Doug Wilson t-shirt.)

Shark Bait

The Sharks have won the division convincingly five of the past six years, but it feels like much longer than that. Thing is, during the majority of that time, they are coasting during the latter part of the season. Then the playoffs start and they don’t make it to where they want to go.

My suggestion is that maybe this predicament is exactly what they need. They are fighting late to reach the playoffs and will therefore not have to “turn it on” once the playoffs start.

Maybe trying something different will yield a different result.

I dunno. It can’t hurt I guess. Provided they actually make it to the dance, that is.

JB

#7 – David – “One thing that does seem to be true is that in the 1st round especially, teams that have cruised all yr sometimes have trouble finding their playoff game.”

Very true. And the Sharks’ only recent season-end scrambling has been for playoff seeding. Now they are scrambling just for a chance to get in and it will sharpen their game. On a consistent basis, who knows with this Jekyll and Hyde team. But many have suggested they “try something different” and fighting hammer and tong just to qualify and perhaps as a low seed is certainly something different for this group.

Soon, hopefully, we will have box scores instead of speculation. All playoff hockey is good playoff hockey.

Quackman

This is my favorite part of the hockey season when we get Mr. Purdy writing about hockey. This guy should stick with baseball and football. He writes nothing but drivel!!! Go away and take your habit for calling them Los Tiburones with you

hockeynut

You Niemi haters DID hear that stat last night that in the last 17 games (now 18) his GAA is right about at 2.00 right? What is the Sharks record in the last 18?

slappy

hockeynut@23
But his GAA for the season tells a different story, no? #29 out of 30.

A major reason why the Sharks are in the jam they’re in today is because…fill in the blanks…

The Sharks are so uninspiring that I am really questioning their desire/manliness. This team has been hyped for so many years and have never won a Stanley Cup. Real hockey fans can’t help but laugh at their lack of toughness. They intimidate nobody.

JB

Yeah the 76-second 5-on-3 was painful to watch. Too many times this has been the case. It always reminds me of the expression “work expands to the time allotted to it.” Given the manpower advantage, an aggressive pace takes time away from the PKers to make good decisions. I don’t understand why the intensity and urgency isn’t increased in that situation instead of vanishing altogether. It’s a flaw in their game that never leaves for long.

JDub

IF we can get 2 points in Dallas (regulation win) that would be huge as from what I understand the Stars have more ROWs than us.

IF we can somehow get into the playoffs…anything can happen. I’m not saying we would be beat STL or VAN, but I would see us being a dangerous team.

CforPavs

Didn’t get to watch the game last night, but I’m not surprised Pavs steeped up and the Sharks won. Sounds like the Wingels, Desi, Winnick line had a good game too.

the 2nd game of back to back nights, after a poor performance in Vanc, and after losing big here twice already this year, did anyone expect anything different last night? no, not really

slappy

Maybe the Sharks didnt want to rub the Stars’ noses in smelly stuff. Sharks had a 3 goal lead. No need to antagonize the Stars needlessly and risk getting injured. Stars are a proud feisty bunch. And the Sharks still have to play 1 more game against them.

Shrk2th

But the problem with executing a PP poorly is that it might inject life into a tired team that was the Stars last night.

Whoever said SJ is lacking killer instinct, I agree with.

I don’t want to get down on our Sharks for the game however. They played well as a whole, and that is the most important thing.

And since I am a frequent Whitey basher, I must give props to COLIN WHITE – he played a really good game last night.

Sharks63

@xoxo
They showed last night on CSN that Dallas in back-to-back games are 1-10-? on the 2nd game. So, yes, odds weren’t in their favor along with the schedule. Maybe if the Sharks assumed the longshot-underdog role, mainly for recent play heading into POs, just maybe the end result might be different than always being a contender for the SC?

Shrk2th

Bay Area media too easy on our Sharks? Check out what the Toronto Media fires at the Maple Leafs… just brutal!

#6 – If Pavs could skate (and had a bit more size) he’d be an easy PPG player. Likewise if Couture (whose actual skating ability is very, very good) had more pure speed he’d be a monster. These guys both have hands, a shot, and – most importantly – more hockey brains than the vast majority of NHL players (see: Patrick “Fast because his head is full of helium” Marleau).

Wonderogre

Well, we won. Okay, now what are the odds that, if we make the playoffs, the NHL can arrange all of our games to be against teams playing on back-to-back nights, arriving in San Jose after 2am in the morning? 🙂

Seriously, though, as much as on some level “a win is a win,” once the Sharks got the 3 goal lead they turned into the team that got whipped by Anaheim a few days ago. Sloppy, passive play. No intensity. A 5-on-3 that looked like it belonged in my beer league, etc… And while Niemi looked better, the few times he had to move across the net were painful to watch (a pain accentuated by the fact that it took him longer to do it than it did the Sharks to not score on said 5-on-3).

Oh, and lest I forget, by my count we managed to give up at least one odd-man rush for every man advantage situation we had (I may be over by 1).

The effort was pretty good in the first period, but the way I saw this game, if we can’t find a way to lift our level of play, even if we do make the playoffs, we’re not making it out of the first round.

And where was Marleau? I barely even noticed him after he hit the post. It was like he said to himself, “Well, that was so close to being a goal as to make no difference – my work here is done.”

g-bum-man

Shark2th—I am with you on giving Colin White props for playing well last night. Best performance of the year for him. He looked solid the whole game.

Winnick too. He had a great game indeed.

Beer League

Wonderogre,
Was that your team that we scored a shorty on the other night while you had a 5 on 3 PP:-)

Beer League – Maybe. I didn’t play this week because I’m still recovering from a pulled groin. But it sounds like something my team would do. 😉

chuckin farks

pavs is clutch. talk about intensity and focus with massive hockey IQ. he plays way bigger than he is.

winnik is alright in my book.

boyle with a huge collision with ott behind the net. loved it, but i don’t know that i want boyler in those kinds of collisions.

niemi played in control and looked smooth and solid for the most part.

braun with a long reach that saved a sure goal.

havlat… sick pass. demers, nice finish.

overall, good win last night.

but still a big concern that may be indicative of a bigger picture problem. at 14:30 of the first, couture gets dumped awkwardly by souray and jumbo and pm are first on the scene.
jumbo gives souray a little tap on the butt like “it’s cool. it’s not like he’s our second leading scorer or anything”.
patty comes in with his usual dopey deer in headlights look like “glad it wasn’t me”.

and i’m not saying these guys should fight, but give him a little shot or something. let him know he can’t take liberties with one of your guys… this team doesn’t have toughness.
after clowe and murray, there’s very little sandpaper. so everyone needs to up their grit.

we’re in the playoffs right now.

Beer League

Wonderogre,
I had a torn groin a few years ago. I had the most intense bruise a had ever seen. Don’t start playing too soon, or it might linger.

GDub

Slappy – 24

You are kidding right? You didn’t sort that list at all. There are guys on there who hardly played. I’m not saying he’s spectacular, 15th in GAA for all who have played at least 30 games….but far from the bottom of the league.

slappy

chuckin@40
“so everyone needs to up their grit.”

Yeah and that includes LC. Hes not a rookie or a baby any more and it’s about time that he put on some muscle over the summer, do weights, and build himself up or his NHL career will be shortened by injuries. I’m tired of hearing fans here say oh look Clowie or JT or PM or whoever who happens to be on the ice with LC should step up for him. I suspect that Clowe is still working thru injuries due to “looking out” for LC. He needs to look out for himself and not expect another player to risk injury babysitting him on the ice.

Wonderogre

BL – Thanks for the advice. I’m not sure if I tore or just pulled. No bruising, though when it happened (first shift of the championship game, just as I’d neatly poked the puck past one of their defenders and jumped up to start a 2-on-1 rush the other way) it felt as if my right leg just lost all ability to coordinate its movements with any strength. I’m sticking to only playing pick-up games for now, as I can take it easy while not getting too rusty. On league nights, my competitive nature gets the best of me and I end up going too hard and invariably tweaking something.

slappy

GDub@42
Actually if you sort for 15 games or more played, Nemo is #16 and 9 goalies above him play in the WC which isn’t a pretty picture.

Beer League

Wonderogre, if you tore it you would know. You wouldn’t be playing pick-up.

Wonderogre

Give me a break, slappy. Yeah, Couture could probably stand to put on some muscle (as a matter of fact, he did exactly this last year), but while he’s not a huge guy, being 6’1 and about 200lbs is pretty respectable. Bottom line is that, no matter how big he is, if your team’s top goal scorer is being knocked around by the other guys without anyone on your team sticking up for him – it’s a HUGE problem. When it comes down to it, even big guys with lots of muscles will develop serious and recurring injuries if the other team constantly takes liberties with them. Being a giant didn’t help Eric Lindros, and having all the muscles in the world wouldn’t have helped you back in the day if Bryan Marchment decided you were better off out of the line-up. Logan being hurt isn’t Logan’s fault. It’s the fault of his teammates for letting teams like Minnesota abuse him. And then people complain that he hasn’t been scoring the same since – well of course not, he’s probably afraid that if he starts scoring again, the other team is going to start running him again and no one on his own squad is going to do a thing about it. Safe bet.

Now, you may not recall, but there’s used to be this guy in the league named Wayne Gretzky, who was far from a spectacular physical specimen. In the somewhat violent 1980s era, there was one and only one reason why teams didn’t pound Gretzky’s 6′ 180lb frame into the ground despite the fact that if he was on his feet he was beating them single-handedly, and that reason was named Marty McSorley. Not to glorify someone who should probably be on parole, but you didn’t mess with Gretzky because McSorley would mess with you. And then after the game he would show up at your house and mess with your girlfriend, whlie you watched helpless from the gurney the nice hospital staff had set up in your living room. And when he was done with her, it was your turn again. If Gretzky played for the Sharks, he’d have lasted for 20 games before someone like Duncan Keith or a pre-2011-12 Matt Cooke delivered onto him the elbow of the people. And it’s not like the fact that this team is SOFT is anything new, is it? Marleau, for all that I’m exasperated by how overrated he is, got murdered in the playoffs against Calgary 3 years ago, and the only person on the team who responded was….[surprisingly] Marleau, who got up and exhibited some serious effort for what was probably the 4th time in his life. Hell, even Brent Burns has been infected. The guy is a monster of an athlete and was a big physical presence for the Wild, but has fewer than half as many hits this season as last. For all we know, he probably doesn’t want to actually exert himself and make the rest of the guys (excepting Pavs, Couture, and maybe Clowe) look bad by comparison.

Talk about “blaming the victim.”

I will give you that you’re probably right about us expecting too much from JT in this situation. The guy only exhibits physicality by accident or in fits of ‘tard rage (see: fighting Getzlaf off the opening face off in a Game 6). And forget Marleau defending anyone – he has enough on his mind figuring out which skate goes on which foot. But what should happen is the next time the offender is on the ice, he’s greeted by the Sharks 3rd or 4th line players, several times, and hard. Until the players stick up for each other like this, it’s a bloody pipe dream that this team is going anywhere in the playoffs other than, sooner or later, right back out of them.

hockeynut

29th out of 30? I can’t believe you posted that nonsense. You have to throw out anyone who hasn’t appeared in AT LEAST 35 games to have a fair comparison. Come on, you can’t be that much of a Niemi hater to compare him to a guy who’s appeared in 2 games all season.

Try again.

Alaskan_ice

Do y’all realize you’re bagging on the Sharks for a win?? A very necessary win. Yeah, you can point out that they shouldn’t be in this position. They are. They did what they needed to do. Yay!

Wonderogre

Alaskan_ice: Why, yes, I think we do. If you’re a Columbus fan, you’re probably happy with a win no matter how it happens. If you’re a fan of a team that’s reached the point where most of the league takes it as a given that it will make the playoffs (and then unmake them 🙂 ), I think you’re entitled to expect a bit more than a 30 minute effort against a mentally and physically drained opponent.